Our Lady of the Vow Abbey

An abbey on the seafront and through wars.
Widower of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V, Matilda remarried Geoffrey Plantagenet, but for some she remained the Empress, granddaughter of the Conqueror. In 1145, fleeing the rebellion of her English vassals, she embarked on a frail skiff and, caught in a terrible storm, vowed to Heaven to found an abbey where she would land, if indeed... She reached land west of Cherbourg. And there she provided for the establishment of a community of Augustinian canons. Thus, Notre-Dame-du-Vœu, this monastery situated on the seafront, was born, a testament to the Franco-English hostilities. What perils it faced, from the Hundred Years' War to the assault of 1758 which led to its annexation by the port fortifications battalion! The abbey then became a military hospital, barracks, and arsenal. And when the British returned as allies in the summer of 1944, the abbey endured the hell of the Liberation battles.

Yet, behold these walls, these vaults, and these abbey remains, sublime survivors; and this face on the tomb slab known as that of Father William, offering, magnificent, a moving image of a 13th century so distant, yet so near.